EDITORIAL: Wait until ’09 for EPA action

Thursday

May 17, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 17, 2007 at 5:20 PM

Many of the big initiatives of President Bush’s administration — the Iraq war, the balanced budget, Social Security reform, an effective Department of Homeland Security — will be left to his successors to carry out or clean up after.

Now it seems that federal regulation of greenhouse gases will be added to the list.Last month, the Supreme Court, rejecting administration arguments to the contrary, said that not only did the Environmental Protection Agency have the power to regulate greenhouse gases, it probably should.

In a brief Rose Garden appearance at which he took no questions, Bush gave his reply. He ordered federal agencies to study vehicle-greenhouse-gas emissions with a view toward developing regulations, first taking into account safety, science, available technology, public reaction and cost/benefit. They are to complete this process by the end of 2008, which will be 20 days before he leaves office.

The president also renewed his call in January’s State of the Union address for "20 in 10" — a 20 percent decrease in gas consumption by 2017.

He would do this partly through a modest increase in vehicle-fuel-efficiency standards, a course of action with its own drawbacks — not the least of which is that the car-buying public, confronted with a choice of fuel economy or size, comfort and safety, has overwhelmingly opted for the latter.

The other part is federal regulations mandating the annual production of 35 billion gallons of ethanol and other alternative fuels by 2017. And you have to wonder: Where are the old-fashioned Republican conservatives on this issue?

This is a massive federal program one step removed. It is economic only with government subsidies and price guarantees backed by tariffs to keep out cheaper foreign-produced ethanol. It combines command economics with the huge cost and market distortions of our current farm program. Meanwhile, with all its drawbacks, oil is, and for the foreseeable future will be, the cheapest, most efficient vehicle fuel.Somebody down the road — and we can guess who that will be — is going to be stuck with a huge tab. But that’s a problem for the president’s successor.